Fire-escape.



Patented Jan.11, 1916.

WITNESSES:

Ill/VE/VIOB, @filin M. ensen,

-OLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH co., WASHINGTON, D. c

tin-rte STATES.

FIRE-ESCAPE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

, Patented-Jan. 11,1916.-

Application filed May-2D, 1915." Serial No. 29,255.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ODIN M. JENSEN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Norfolk Downs, in the county of Norfolk, in the State of Massachusetts, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Fire-Escapes, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

The object of this invention is to provide a simple, cheap and safe fire escape which may be readily stowed away when not required for use and which may be as readily adjusted to its operative position when needed; my said escape being of such a construction that it may be operated by a person seeking to escape from the upper stories of a burning building, or it may be used by persons on the ground to lower, to positions of safety, persons who are trapped by fire in such upper stories.

In order to explain my said invention clearly I have provided the annexed drawings, in which Figure 1 is an elevation of a fire escape embodying my present improvement, and Fig. 2 shows the said escape as viewed from the right hand side of said Fig. 1. In Fig. 3 I have shown, relatively enlarged, and in central vertical section, a friction device for preventing the too rapid descent of the escape.

Referring to these drawings the numeral 20 indicates the front line or face of a building and 21 denotes a bracket extending outward from the said building. This bracket may be a fixture on the building or it may be placed in position when needed, the location of the bracket being such that it may be readily reached from a window or door in order that the end of a cable or rope 22 may be hooked, or otherwise attached. to the free end portion of the bracket. The suspended portion of the cable 22 is coiled one or two turns around a spool 23 and is then carried upward, through a pulley block 25 which block is hung on a frame 26 that is of bail form, as here shown, and is mounted on an axial rod 27 on which the spool 28 is mounted; the bail 26 being formed with an eye 26 through which the cable passes and by means of which the bail and the attached. pulley block are retained in their operative positions.

Suspended below the axial rod 27 is a frame 28 whose lower end portion is formed as a bar 29 which may be used as a seat or foot-hold to support the person using the fire escape or, if desired, a basket may be substituted for the frame 28. Secured to the said frame, as here illustrated, is a tubular member 30 of such size that the cable 22 may be easily rove through it, and fulcrumed in said tube is a lever 3l'having an exposed handle-portion 51 by means of which the said lever may be rocked on its fulcrum, the arrangement of tube, lever and cable being such that, when the lever 31 is suitably rocked, the cable will be forcibly gripped and prevented from slipping through the tube, thus checking the descent of the frame 28 and its load until the frictional action of the lever 31 is released.

When it is desired to use my described fire escape the cable 22 is first hooked to the bracket 21 and the frame 28 is adjusted so it is approximately opposite a window. The operator of the escape then seats himself in the frame 28 and on the bar 29 holding firmly onto the cable meanwhile. He then grasps the friction brake handle 31 and applies thebrake to the cable and, by suitably regulating said brake, according to the load which the escape is carrying, he lowers himself at a safe speed to the ground. The frame 28 may then be hauled up again by him and may be utilized repeatedly to rescue others from the building.

My described device may be cheaply produced, it is portable, and it may be conveniently stowed away when not needed.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and wish to secure by Letters Patent A fire escape of the type described including interconnected frames the upper frame having journaled therein a winding drum, said cable having one end connected to an outstanding point above the upper frame, and its other end extending downwardly groundward, the upper end of the upper frame having a terminal eye, said cable or line being passed intermediate its ends through the upper end eye-terminal of said upper frame and looped a number of times around said drum, said line or cable also having its intermediate portion rove through a pulley suspended from theupper end of said upper frame, laterally of the longitudinal center cf the latter, said intermediate linep0rti0n thence extending lat erally of said drum and said upper frame also laterally of said lower frame, said lower frame being provided with a brakeequipped tubular member, said cable eX- ODIN M. JENSEN.

serve as a seat.

Witness FRED. K. DAGGETT.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

